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New EVs deliver on promises
By the end of this year, about 60 EVs on sale in the U.S. will offer 300 miles of range or more. That's tracked by Tim Levin, senior editor at InsideEVs, who covers nearly every EV that comes to market.
For years, 300 miles was the number shoppers demanded cited before they'd consider an EV. On this week's EV Insider, Recurrent CEO Scott Case said that bar has quietly been cleared: "Basically everything that's now coming out is... three hundred miles range."
Tim thinks the progress has been lost in a year of weak sales headlines. "If you just looked at the technology coming out," he said, "you would say it's been quite a good year for EVs."
When nearly every EV delivers 300 miles, range becomes less of a shopping consideration. Other variables like charge time and efficiency get more important.
Efficiency is measured in kilowatt-hours per 100 miles. It works like MPG in reverse, so a lower number is better. Across 2026 models, the average is 37.5 kWh per 100 miles. The most efficient models use about 23, which means they travel roughly 40% farther on the same energy.
Automakers have two ways to reach 300 miles.
The most obvious one is a bigger battery. The Chevrolet Silverado EV reaches 547 miles of expected range with a 205 kWh pack.
The other option is a more efficient car. The 2026 Nissan LEAF gets 319 miles from 75 kWh.
At 12,000 miles a year, an average 2026 EV uses about 4,500 kWh. One of the most efficient models uses about 2,750, a gap of roughly 1,745 kWh a year or $330 (based on avg residential rates). A bigger battery also adds cost to the sticker price.
Average EV efficiency has declined since 2018 as buyers moved toward SUVs, trucks and boxy crossovers. Within each vehicle class, though, it keeps improving.
Aerodynamic sedans lead the rankings. The Lucid Air uses 23 kWh per 100 miles, and the Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Tesla Model 3 each use 25.
For a family-size vehicle, the Toyota bZ uses 25.5 and the Tesla Model Y uses 26.
From the market
Why new EV sales really fell
New EV sales are down about 30% from a year ago. Coverage has blamed the end of the federal tax credit. Tim Levin of InsideEVs says that's only part of the story.
Federal fuel-economy and emissions requirements eased, and California lost its waiver to push EV sales. Without those rules, legacy automakers no longer need to sell as many EVs, so they're building fewer. "They don't need to sell as many of these unprofitable EVs," Tim said. "And so they're not."
Tesla doesn’t really have that option. It sells only EVs, and it makes money on them, so it kept building them. Its sales fell 20% in the third quarter, about half the drop of the overall market, and it still sells half of all new EVs in the U.S.rt, so they can use Superchargers without an adapter.
Ask Recurrent
Question: "Why does my EV use more energy on the highway?"
When you slow down, regenerative braking turns your motion back into stored energy. Stop-and-go traffic (in the city) gives your EV many chances to recover energy that a gas car loses as heat in its brakes. At highway speeds there's little braking, and wind resistance rises quickly with speed.
The pattern is the reverse of a gas car, which is least efficient in traffic. If most of your driving is in town, expect to beat your car's rated efficiency. On long highway stretches, expect to fall short of it.
Before you go
If a 300-mile EV is on your list, start by finding out what your current one is worth. Sell with Recurrent puts your EV in front of vetted dealers who bid on it directly, and you can include your battery health data for them to see.
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